Two of Hawke’s Bay’s brightest men’s basketball prospects have been drafted into the Taylor Hawks almost immediately after their returns from scholarships in the United States.
The two are 17-year-old Kahuranaki Treacher, who has been at St Albans in Washington DC, and Denim Tuala-Fata, who has been at the College of Marin, Kentfield, California.
The “best of mates” for years, Treacher says, both are out of Hastings Boys’ High School, have reached stage one of the American dream and, and get the chance to achieve another dream in being able to play for the Hawks, during the US summer break
It comes perhaps with a bit of symbolism for Treacher – short-name “Kahu”, Māori for hawk, although it comes from “Kahura”, as in Kahuranaki, or Kahura Anaki, the first land seen past Te Matau a Maui in canoe voyaging on the coast.
Thus he’s proudly Ngati Kahungunu, something which was embraced by “Bulldogs” teammates at St Albans, on display last week when whanau attended his high school graduation, cloaked by mum, journalist and documentary producer Aroha and with father Chris doing a haka.
In August he’ll return to the US for his first year at Eastern Arizona College, and on the team campus’s Gila Monsters, a team name fitting his stature – 2.06 metres (or 6ft 9in, to use the imperial measurement still common in the US).
Hawks general manager and veteran player Jarrod Kenny announced the signings, saying the pair are eligible to play immediately, and will be in the lineups for Saturday’s home games at against the Nelson Giants at the Pettigrew Green Arena, with the Rapid League match starting at 6.30pm and the Sal’s NBL match at 7.30pm.
By Friday afternoon, Treacher had already had two practices with the Hawks, despite being back in New Zealand barely 24 hours, and was not worried whether his first appearance in the singlet would be in the Rapid League, or the NBL.
“I’ve always been around the Hawks, always had whanau and friends in the camp, so I am looking to do what I can to help,” he said. “It’d be great to play in both.”
The pair’s arrival, along with that of Kade Cartwrght, from Auckland, comes at an important time for the Hawks, with Jordan Ngatai and Jackson Ball available for the last time before departing on national team duties.
Ngatai is headed for the Tall Blacks’ Olympic Games qualifying tournament in Greece on July 2-7 (with warm-up matches later this month against Finland and Poland), while Ball is headed for the Under 17 World Cup in Turkey on June 29-July 7.
With two wins in five consecutive away games since the last home match a month ago, the victories being over Nelson Giants and Southland Sharks, the Hawks cling to 6th place with six wins from 14 matches in the 20-match regular season.
With five of the remaining six games at home, they are out to repeat last year’s effort of qualifying for the top six for the playoffs.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.